Hymn
by Ascend
Summary: A group of angels amass an assault on the Phantomhive Estate, namely its infamous Black Butler. But when Ciel follows an injured Sebastian into the depths of Hell, he is unknowingly pulled into a plot devised by the so called "Devil's" own butler.
1. Deadline

**Title: **Hymn

**Rating: **M

**Warnings: **Strong language and violence.

**Category: **Black Butler/DNAngel Crossover

**Summary: **A group of angels amass an assault on the Phantomhive Estate, namely its infamous Black Butler. But when Ciel follows an injured Sebastian into the depths of Hell, he is unknowingly pulled into a plot devised by the so called "Devil's" own butler.

**Author's Note: **Look at this. It is a story. For Slinky. That is on time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Black Butler, DNAngel, or any of the games, animes, books, television shows, etc that will be referenced/used.

* * *

><p>I resisted the urge to retreat back into my study and lock the door, instead putting a hand on my ring finger as Elizabeth bounded up the stairs, the picture of blithe.<p>

"Ciel Ciel Ciel!" she singsonged, and I forced myself to smile, and swallowed the urge to order Sebastian to tear down the number of streamers and balloons garnishing my home. He probably would have ignored me anyway.

"Elizabeth," I replied. "This is-"

"- lovely." Sebastian said, and I gave him a sideways glare for encouraging her.

"Unnecessary," I muttered, but Elizabeth grabbed my hands and pulled me down the stairs regardless.

"Of course it's necessary! It is your _birthday_." she said. I spun my ring around the base of my thumb, reminding myself that I could not get mad at Elizabeth, that I did not want a repeat of a last year. To find a happy place.

I looked at the explosion of color surrounding me and felt my eye twitch.

"I don't like my birthday." I finally said.

"I know! But I will make you like your birthday, because this will be the best birthday _ever_-"

"Elizabeth-"

"-at least until next year, when I top even this birthday!" she said, apparently ignoring my attempt to flee upstairs, twirling about as Sebastian grasped my shoulders and turned me back towards her.

"… wonderful." I said. How did she plan to top this? Puppies and kittens with oversized eyes running all over the place?

_Don't give the Universe ideas, Ciel. It can sense fear._

I managed to smile when Elizabeth grabbed my hands again, and towed me towards the dining room. Tassels and streamers and cloth and girly objects I didn't even want to know the name of covered the room, an oversized cake settled in the middle of the extended table. A white puppy was being smothered by Finnian, and Sebastian had abandoned me for a black kitten, the soft tinkling of a bell coming from it as Sebastian cooed over it like the_ useless demon he was_.

I buried my face in my hands. This could not be happening. Elizabeth pulled my hands down, and stared at me with big, sad eyes.

"Don't you like it?" she asked.

"I'm just… surprised." I replied lamely.

Elizabeth brightened, and I sighed as she turned to bounce over to the table. I followed her, figuring the sooner this was over, the better.

"Isn't it pretty? Sebastian helped me bake it! I did the icing, though." Elizabeth cooed, proudly pointing out the tiny white flowers dotting the blue icing.

"Sebastian… helped… you?" I grunted, looking at the offending butler. He ignored me, contently continuing to pet the kitten instead of face my nonexistent wrath.

"Yup!" Elizabeth confirmed.

I resisted the urge to cover my face again.

"Wonderful." I echoed.

"Oh, you get the first piece, yes!" Mei-Rin said, and I winced at the idea of her and a large knife.

"Perhaps Seba-" I began.

"No, no! We must sing first!" Elizabeth snapped, taking the cutting knife. I tried to not feel relief at this, because the world was probably no safer with the knife in the hands of Elizabeth.

"That is really unnecessary." I attempted again, huffing slightly as Elizabeth and Mei-Rin caterwauled into song. Sebastian finally claimed the knife, but went about lighting the candles instead of saving me from the insanity I was being forced to endure. The kitten purred from his shoulder.

Smoke rolled from the kitchen, and Sebastian sighed as he followed it inside. A few moments later Baldroy appeared, apparently kicked out of the kitchen.

"Are you trying to burn my house down?" I snapped, Sebastian reappearing before Baldroy could respond.

"I believe I have told you before, Baldroy, that you cannot reduce cooking time by increasing temperature." Sebastian said easily.

Baldroy replied with a sheepish grin. "Sorry."

"Stop worrying, Ciel," Elizabeth sang, once again dragging me back towards the absurdly large cake. "You have Sebastian, and I can already smell that food I'm not telling you."

"You don't have salt." I said, and smirked a bit as I hear Sebastian let out a faint sigh instead of his signature line.

"I was merely going to say that the young master should blow out his candles, before they melt all over the cake." Sebastian said.

"Oh my God, you're right!" Elizabeth cried, my smirk fading as she pointed to the candles.

The candles were fine and barely dripping, but Elizabeth would not stop staring at me with her huge puppy eyes until I saved the cake, per blowing out the candles.

"Did you make a wish?" Elizabeth asked.

"No." I replied honestly, then face palmed. Why didn't I lie and say yes-

"Oh! Ciel, you have to make a wish."

"I don't need to make a wish."

"CIEL YOU MUST MAKE A WISH."

I put my hands up in surrender, grinning sheepishly as Elizabeth all but pinned me down with huge eyes.

"Okay." I agreed.

She brightened, twirling away to relight the candles. I sighed, and glanced at Sebastian.

"Stop being useless." I said, failing to keep a tremble of a whine out of my voice. Sebastian ignored me, instead walking to the window and pulling it open.

"Sebastian?" I asked.

He looked up and shut the window. "Please enjoy the remainder of your birthday, young master. There is some business I must attend to."

"Ciel? Is something wrong?" Elizabeth asked, grabbing my arm.

"Not at all, my lady." Sebastian assured.

"Nothing's wrong." I agreed, Elizabeth smiling. Still, I found myself glaring at Sebastian as he walked off, leaving me at the mercy of my staff and Elizabeth.

"Do I really have to blow the candles out again?" I asked.

"Yes! And this time, you have to make a wish." Elizabeth insisted.

A faint crackling noise came from the window, Finnian already examining it.

"These feathers are breaking the glass!" he announced, and I walked over with a sigh.

"Feathers don't break glass." I said, grunting as Elizabeth eagerly ran over to the window, dragging me the remaining distance.

"Oh, Ciel, look! It really is!"

I pulled my arm free. I turned and scowled as I realized a number of white feathers clung to the glass, cracks appearing where they stuck, and smoke rose from the glass.

"Don't." I said, Elizabeth moving her hand to her hair.

"They are really pretty," she said. "They reflect the light."

"They are ruining my windows." I pointed out flatly.

As if on a cue the glass crumbled, and I backed up in alarm as the feathers tumbled inside; they began to mark up the tile with black smudges, and the cloth they rolled into smoldered. I stared, up until a piece of tablecloth began to burn in earnest.

"Ah!" I said, stamping out the fire. I looked around, alarm filling me as I realized most of the cloth in the kitchen had also caught fire; Finnian and Baldroy were stamping out some of them, Mei-Rin trying to collect the feathers in an iron pan.

"Dah duh!" Mei-Rin said proudly, and I took the pan she presented to me before she could drop it.

"All of this stuff is a fire hazard." I hissed at Elizabeth, whose expression became crestfallen.

"I kept the kitchen clear," she replied. "And I wasn't expecting inflammable feathers to come through the window!"

I opened my mouth, shut it, and then stamped my foot in frustration like a small child. "That's not the point!"

"More feathers." Finnian said.

I stalked back to the window, and nearly dropped the pan. The courtyard appeared to be covered in snow, except the feathers didn't melt away despite the burning grass and trees.

"Sebastian?" I managed, carefully setting the pan down. Calm, calm, calm-

A resounding crash came from the main hall, and I rushed to the door. I grabbed the handle, only to release it with a loud curse as heat seared through my palm. Finnian reached for the handle, but I grabbed it again and pushed the door open before he could.

"Oh my God." Elizabeth whispered, effectively taking the words out of my mouth.

The main door was bucked in, shards of wood littering the ground. Some pieces already smoldered, feathers covering the ground and lighting what they touched. Glass lay shattered on the ground, piles of stone and plaster marking where the roof had collapsed.

"Se- Sebastian!" I yelled.

A mess of plaster and stone moved from the staircase, smothering some of the flames as the familiar shape of Sebastian appeared.

"My Lord?"

I wanted to punch him. My house was burning down around me and he says "_my Lord_."

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped, gesturing around me. I took a breath to continue, but Sebastian lifted his hand, and I let the words die in my throat.

"What's going on?" I asked instead.

"It would appear some angels have come to the conclusion that they should attempt to save those who had been corrupted by demonic taint." Sebastian explained.

"So they try to _burn my house down?_" I hissed.

It didn't even make any sense; the not-insane-fallen-angels had little to no interest in me.

A blast of heat came from behind me, more plaster falling in.

Sebastian grimaced.

"Well, get rid of them!" I finally snapped.

"I will, my Lord. They have the assistance of an archangel, however, so some time and property damage will be… required."

"That is not acceptable!" I hissed.

The angels did not care; most certainly not the point of involving an archangel. Something was wrong, but Sebastian offered no explanation; he sounded just as confused as I was.

An emotion flashed through Sebastian's face, one I couldn't place.

"I will do my best." he finally said.

The cloth around us continued to catch fire, and I turned to lead Elizabeth outside. Feathers clung to us and we beat them away, but despite our efforts our clothing was soon marked with black soot. Much to my relief a small clearing showed itself, and within its scant safety I turned back to examine my mansion.

Three angels hovered above my home, feathers cascading from their wings. An archangel hovered near them, peering down a hole he had made _in my roof_, the angel's wings making it too large to follow Sebastian. Instead it held its hand out, and produced a golden lance; this it chucked through the hole, and I heard Elizabeth gasp as Sebastian appeared on the roof, unruffled by the explosion that erupted from where the lance hit.

I, on the other hand, was on the verge of rushing up onto the rooftop and beating the nearest angel with my cane. They obviously needed a reminder that divine beings did not burn houses down.

I couldn't hear the words Sebastian and the archangel exchanged, and a shadow passed over me. Looking up, I watched two more archangels appear, joining the others in surrounding Sebastian.

Doubt entered my mind; surely this was too much, even for Sebastian? He had been forced to take his true form to defeat Ash, and he had been one fallen angel.

Before I could truly consider this, a bright, golden rune etched itself along the roof, erupting into a pillar of light. A feral screech came from Sebastian, and I watched with wide eyes as he shifted into his crow form, only to flap into another pillar.

"Holy shit," I said, as debris filled the air, to be replaced with a cloud of smoke as the support beams collapsed. Another screech came from Sebastian, softer than the last one, and the angels seemed to be looking for him within the rubble of the mansion. "Sebastian!"

"Ciel," Elizabeth said, her voice trembling.

I wanted to run into the mansion, wanted to find Sebastian and demand that he get rid of these infuriating angels, but Elizabeth's hand on my shoulder kept me from attempting my no doubt stupid and useless plan. Instead I swallowed back bile, and struggled to ignore the sound of raging fire as I desperate scanned the rubble for Sebastian.

After a long minute I stepped back into the mess of feathers, oblivious to their sting. "Sebastian?"

Could demons die? No- he couldn't be dead, or gone, or whatever it was demons did. He was Sebastian.

An archangel landed before me, its wing beats scattering the feathers that had been clinging to me. It took me a moment to actually look up at it, and when I did I didn't know what to do in response.

"There is no reason to cry, child," it said, and it was only then I realized that the warmth on my face was from tears, not the heat of the nearby fire.

"You burned my house down." I hissed, though my voice cracked and ruined the anger I was going for.

"It can be rebuilt." the angel assured.

"Where is my butler?" I demanded.

This seemed to remind it of Sebastian, the angel pulling free what little remained of my eye patch in order to examine my Faust. I glared at it, and the angel glared in return.

"That thing is still alive. Find it!" it suddenly yelled, whirling to face the angels still hovering above my mansion.

My heart skipped a beat, and I was surprised by the amount of joy I felt from those words. Sebastian was alive. And if Sebastian was alive, then I would soon be rid of these angels, I would soon have a house again, and- and all would be well.

My joy was replaced by fear when I heard one of the angels announce they had found him, and I pushed past the one in front of me in order to see the mansion again. I could see one of the angels, hovering low to the ground as it shifted the rubble—

I found myself grinning as the angel was promptly sent flying into the burning forest, a portion of the rubble tumbling to the ground as Sebastian stood; and by this I meant a giant, horse-like creature stood, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was looking at my now very pissed off demon.

"Uh, Ciel?" Elizabeth whispered, touching my shoulder again.

"The giant pony is on our side." I assured.

"If you say so." Elizabeth clearly did not find a bloodied, oversized demon horse with horns and spikes inviting, but I ignored this. He was _my_ bloodied, oversized demon horse with horns and spikes.

An angel flew by Sebastian's face, and he grabbed it by a wing, stepping into the feathers as he tore its wing in half. The angel crashed onto the ground, and I could hear Sebastian chuckle as the angel's own feathers burst into flames.

Sebastian said something in a language I didn't understand, but judging by the gasps that came from the remaining angels, it was an insult. This was confirmed when he spread a pair of bat-like wings; I was surprised by how thin and fragile they looked, despite their size, and for a moment I was worried they wouldn't actually support him in flight.

But Sebastian easily took to the air when an archangel formed another rune beneath him, slamming into the archangel long before the customary pillar of light formed.

"Demons do not belong in the sky." the archangel hissed, and I had to feel a bit of pride when Sebastian replied with a loud raspberry.

My suave butler was giving raspberries. I suppose that's why it made me fail to hold back a laugh, much to the displeasure of the archangel who had spoken to me.

"Perhaps you are truly too corrupt to appreciate the sacrifice we are enduring for you." the archangel hissed.

I looked back at him, and pointed to the angel that was now a pile of ash and blood. "See that?"

The archangel nodded.

"That makes me happy. Like, the 'warm and fuzzy feeling inside' happy."

"You disgusting child." it hissed, spreading its wings and taking to the air.

"Does it really?" Elizabeth asked.

"Pretend you didn't hear that." I replied.

My happiness faded, however, as I watched the remaining angel and two archangels surrounded Sebastian, a lance piercing through one of his wings and pinning it to the ground. This sent Sebastian crashing into the rubble, a pained scream coming from him as he tore the wing free. A rune appeared beneath him, and he half slid, half stumbled down into the feathers.

He spread his wings and scattered the feathers, screaming again as the two archangels grabbed either wing, and pulled him back into the air. I found myself wincing in sympathy.

The remaining angel summoned a lance, flying over Sebastian before folding its wings, and using the momentum of the fall to ram the lance through Sebastian's head. At this the archangels released him, and I watched in horror as he slammed back onto the ground; his fur began to light as the feathers tumbled into it, and I rushed towards him.

"Sebastian?" I patted some of the flames out with my sleeve, and ignored the angels as I moved to Sebastian's head, desperately holding a hand over one of his nostrils.

Warm air briefly blew into my hand, and my shoulders slumped with relief.

Then I turned towards the angels, swallowing as the same archangel approached me.

"Move, child." it demanded.

"N- no. Go away."

As per the norm the person I was speaking to ignored me, and I put a hand to Sebastian's head as if I could actually protect him; the sticky warmth of blood quickly coated my hand, and I resisted the urge to pull it back.

I felt Sebastian stir, but I didn't allow myself to feel any relief; I was almost too tired to anyway.

"Don't be a fool." the archangel hissed.

Sebastian's wings twitched, and I nearly fell back on my rump as he got to his feet.

The archangel glared. "Can you not just die, demon?"

Sebastian said nothing in reply, instead stumbling off; when an angel flew in front of him, he simply turned in another direction and continued forward. This obviously amused the angel, as it continuously moved in front of Sebastian, who would continuously turn in another direction.

"Sebastian." I finally croaked, when he had turned for the tenth time.

He stopped, and let out a low growl as he recovered from whatever daze he had been in. The angels hardly appeared threatened, however, even less so when the growl broke off into a tired wheeze.

The archangel stepped past me, and I turned, alarm filling me as it summoned a lance. It pressed a hand against Sebastian's head; the demon stamped a hoof, but offered no other resistance.

"No. No!" I screamed; Sebastian couldn't die, Sebastian couldn't die—

I mustered the energy to tackle one of the archangel's wings. The archangel snapped its wings open, and I was sent tumbling to the ground, along with a fistful of feathers.

The archangel turned his head towards me, and Sebastian rammed it with his shoulder. The archangel stumbled back, and Sebastian reared back. The archangel rolled away as Sebastian smashed his hooves down, feathers scattering.

A red rune appeared behind Sebastian, the demon turning to run through it before the angels could stop him; in a flash of light, he was gone.

"Rot in Hell!" the archangel roared, and I stared at the rune with wide eyes; was it actually a portal to Hell?

Then the rune began to fade, and before reason could worm its way into my thoughts, I ran towards the portal, stepping through it just as I heard it snap shut behind me.


	2. The Forest

I fell flat on my face.

I wasn't too surprised, really. If there was ever a time I would want to remain as alert as possible, I would, of course, do something stupid. Like trip over a nonexistent rock.

I was surprised, however, at the fact that my face was not in intense pain. If anything, my face was being brushed by something, and when I sat up I realized it was grass. Nice, green grass that was swaying in some apparent breeze. I looked beyond this and there were trees, and bright, gold creatures were flitting among them, singing rather happily.

Where was all the lava, and the depressing dead rocks, and the demons? Unless, of course, the creatures were demons-which was entirely possible-but having seen a number of demons, they certainly weren't the kind of demons I had been expecting.

I got to my feet, brushing the bit of dirt and grass that had clung to my clothes off. There was still a ton of soot, but it seemed too fond of me to want to let go. Not that it mattered, I thought, walking towards the trees.

The creatures were birds, I realized, and there were white, pearly ones flying around as well. They were ignoring me, and on the off-chance they were actually extremely dangerous demons, I had no intentions of changing this. The trees, now that I was walking among them, seemed to form a very rough path, the bulk of their branches even facing the same direction.

So I followed the path. The branches and the grass were still swaying, but I was pretty sure I wasn't feeling whatever breeze was moving them. No, I was certain I was very warm. Almost uncomfortably so.

At the end of the path was a marble podium. It was sort of just there, completely out of place. Sitting behind it was a demon, who was reading some sort of book.

"Good afternoon," the demon said, looking up. He had the piercing red eyes I had been expecting, narrowed further by the bone mask he wore over his head, the bone reaching down to the tip of his beak. Its pair of horns curled behind his head, and from under his mask and horns I could see black feathers.

"... Good afternoon." I echoed uncertainly.

"There. Perfectly polite. That was easy enough, wasn't it?" the demon said, setting his book down on the podium, "But no. Not for Fleth. Fleth just flies on in, screaming bloody murder and ruining my nice forest. Covered it in soot and _angel_ feathers."

The demon sounded disgusted. "It took me forever to clean it up. Twenty seconds, I tell you. Twenty! Seconds! Honestly! The nerve of some demons!"

"Uhm." I said.

"Uhm," the demon echoed. "Right, well. Since we are civilized. My name is Zaire, guardian of the Gates of Hell. Or something. You may or may not call me something different now."

"Uhm."

"Goodness. Alright, I'll help you," Zaire said, sighing. "Repeat after me: My name is..."

"My name is Ciel." I offered uncertainly, "Ciel Phantomhive."

"Excellent. Well done, Ciel. Phantomhive. Mister Phantomhive, Ciel, ghost!" the demon said, then narrowing his eyes. "Do you have pet ghost bees?"

"Uhm-"

"Please stop saying 'uhm'. I get it. You're confused or something. Please move past this."

"No, I do not have pet... phantom... bees." I said.

"Well that's a crying shame. I could make you a pet ghost bee." Zaire said, sounding thrilled at the prospect.

"I don't think I'd want one." I said.

"Also a crying shame. But alas," Zaire said, sighing again. He reached for his book again, and I noted that his hands were clawed. He flicked through the pages, stopped on one, then looked back up to me. "Right. According to this, you are in contract with Fleth."

"I don't know who Fleth is."

"Awkward. I believe he goes by... curses, I've never been good at this English. Reading it, at least. S-E-B-A-S-T-I-A-N?"

"Sebastian!" I said eagerly. "His real name is Fleth?"

"Yes. Horrible name, really." Zaire said.

I couldn't help but smirk. It was a horrible name. "He told me his real name would be unpronounceable."

"Nonsense. Zaire's my real name, but I trust you can handle it rather easily. I imagine he told you that so he wouldn't have you calling him something stupid. Like Fleth."

I will now, I thought, snorting as I failed to hold back a laugh.

"Right. Right. Riiiigghhttt," Zaire said, flipping his book shut. "Humans, even contracted ones, are not allowed in Hell."

Not that I really wanted to be in Hell. "I just want to know if Sebas- Fleth will be alright."

Zaire stared at me as if I had some horrible disease. "I preferred your 'uhm'. Why are you expressing concern over a demon?"

I snorted. "It's not _concern._ Not in the 'oh, my heart will be broken if he dies' sort of way, at least. I'm concerned in that I need him to be alright so he can carry out his end of the contract."

Zaire seemed to relax. "Ah. Well," he flipped his book open again. "This thing is a bit slow on updating. Fleth... issssss. Aha. Apparently, Fleth is in between the eighth and ninth layer."

"Is that a good thing... a bad thing...?" I asked.

"Depends. Our Lord's healer resides there. If he heals Fleth, I imagine he'll be right as rain. If he doesn't, he'll probably turn him into one of these birds you see here." Zaire said, motioning to the white and gold birds flitting behind me.

"Lord?" I echoed.

"You know. The head-honcho demon."

"Satan?"

"Goodness, no. Satan's been dead for years. Our Lord kicked his ass." Zaire chuckled.

Alright. That flew in the face of what I knew about Hell, but I was getting used to it. Staying a steadying breath, I asked, "Will his healer heal Fleth?"

"I don't know. At least, I won't know until he-she-they-it makes a decision, but that could take years."

"But Sebastian could be dead by then!" I cried.

Zaire shrugged. "I'm sure he'll make a pretty bird."

My good mood collapsed. Sebastian could not die. "I need to go after him."

"Right. And if I did let you past-which I will not-what exactly would you do?" Zaire asked.

I sucked in a breath. Hell if I knew.

"Let me tell you," Zaire continued. "If you make it past the first level, which you _may_, each level beyond the first is guarded by a great demon. Great, terrible demons that only get greater and more terrible the further down you go. And should you not get eaten, shanked, turned inside-out, burnt to a crisp, driven insane, or anything similar, what could you say, what could you offer, to convince our Lord or his healer to help you? We're demon, mister Phantomhive. We, more often than not, eat our weak."

Zaire tapped the cover of his book. "Look. If Fleth dies, you'll be free of the contract. I'm sure the angels or whatever will see it as you managing to overcome your darkness or something stupid. So you'll be scot-free. Not only can you have your cake, but you can eat it too."

I didn't want to be scot-free. I wanted Sebastian, I wanted my revenge.

"No." I snapped.

"No." Zaire echoed, "Unless you intend on trying to get past me, you won't be going any further. So you may as well go home-"

The air suddenly became very thick, silencing Zaire and making it hard for me to breathe. It didn't last long-a few moments, maybe-before there was the lone toll of a bell, just one, but that one snapped the air back to normal, popping my ears and nearly knocking the wind out of me.

Zaire had looked skyward, and after a long moment, he looked back to me.

"You may continue," he said quietly. He stepped off of his podium, revealing a red-tinted portal.

"What just happened?" I asked, also quietly. I stepped onto the podium, but didn't go through the portal, staring at Zaire.

"You have been summoned." Zaire replied.

"By your Lord?"

"No." Zaire said.

"By who?"

"Him."

"Who is him?" I asked.

"Her."

"Who is her?"

"Them."

I didn't know if I should feel frustrated, bewildered, or scared. "Who is them?"

"What stands between the destruction of all that is."

I decided on scared. Terrified. I-wanted-my-momma. "Why would they summon me?"

Zaire stared at me with equally confused eyes. "I do not know. Your path will not be easy, but if they want you..."

Zaire took a breath. "If they want you, and if you want to reach your Fleth, then you will make it. A change is coming... yes, that's it. A change. One that you will bring."

That was pretty intense. It sounded like the cheesy beginnings of an epic story, now that I thought about it. "Right."

"Good luck." Zaire said, "You will need it."

And on that cheerful note, I stepped through the portal and was once again engulfed by darkness.


End file.
